SOUND REINFORCEMENT

All,

As a report for this month:

Festival Sound:

The biggest sound event for May was the Spring Festival Thanks to all on the sound crew; Bill Henderson, Greg More, Bob Safranek and Andrew Dunn. The moving and set up of all of the sound bits-and-pieces is a big job. Much appreciation to George Otto for the lighting and to Dave Sherman for the use and set-up of his sound system for one of the workshop rooms. In all we had three sound systems operating each day. This was our second show at Camp Bernie as a team, and we were able to modify and streamline the set-up to give our customers the maximum quality and fidelity with the least amount of intrusion. The Festival Committee should have had no troubles from our end.

With October planned as another weekend at Bernie's, we'll further simplify and streamline. Over the coming months the committee may ask for some minor fundage to help make The Minstrel system more portable. I brought some better front-of-house speakers to this festival, and there was an improvement in quality and coverage of the overall sound. We may consider a purchase.

Short story: From the board we were hearing a ringing in the room around 2,000 hertz but couldn't find it. There was no feedback and it had nothing to do with any instrumentation. I even walked around to see if an appliance was running anywhere. Pam found location -- a customer's hearing aid was up too loud and feeding back, just like any sound system can do if misadjusted. The customer got annoyed with it, and put it in his coffee cup, thus forming a bit of a p.a. horn. I talked to the man about it, offering him a seat near the board so he could listen through headphones turned up load. He was most appreciative and happy, he having said so a few times the following day.

Minstrel sound system:

Upon returning from the festival, the first Minstrel crew to use the board reported that channel 9 is malfunctioning, producing pops and static without passing any audio. The Sanctuary sound board will likely be transplanted before the next show, with The Folk Goddesses, or soon there-after. The Sanctuary "Mix-Wizard" Allen & Heath has the same console layout, size and function as the current board, the most obvious difference are lighted channel indicators.

Sound recruitment

We have a total of five people looking to learn the ropes. We'll start working with them shortly, on Minstrel Fridays before the shows. Once we get started I'm sure there will be more. I'd like to work with in small groups at first to get everyone to a certain level. We'll talk about big group sessions once everyone understands the basics and the newer participants have some working experience.

Work Book

Chris Reimer and Bob Safranek have forwarded copies and links to the 1988 publication "Audio for the Low End" by Don Reimer. Very interesting reading with many useful tips. I had envisioned something smaller than 48 pages to give to trainees but we should certainly make these available to all sound dogs. Whatever I produce will need to be consistent in terms and theory, so I may contact Don to talk about such.

Last report follow up:

Sound System loaner: I have been researching and trying a few things, using my lovely bride as a focus group during some of her gigs. Descrete amps and speakers are likely out of the question due to bulk and weight, so the search is now leading toward enclosures. The new generation of amplifiers are clean-sounding enough to reproduce vocal and instruments in two inputs. For more inputs, small four- or six-channel mixers can be connected via a single line. The smaller items in decent cases should provide quality and reliable service in listening room environments while broadening the storage and transportation options. Outdoor situations will always need something of more horsepower.

Front desk ears:

Research is continuing. Nothing new -- I may delegate that search.

MUF Improvements:

Still no new MUF meetings, but there have been conversations, most recently at Festival. First, the MUF trustees and elders are overwhelmingly supportive of The Folk Project mission, objective and goals. As for changes to the venue, we did meet with an audio engineer and the MUF people are in favor of acoustic improvements, the basic positive discussions supporting the use of acoustic curtains, replacing and improving the current permanent speakers with better equipment. The feelings among the MUF gang are not to change the floor, so any permanent wiring will need to be run through the walls and ceilings.

There is new life in the prospect MUF building a community room with more floor space than our current concert space -- this does not mean that any major new construction is a certainty. If such a room is built, there is the possibility that MUF would prefer we and other activities move into it, thus keeping the Sanctuary "holy." This new room as currently proposed would be a rectangle with comfortable and mobile seating. We may find that it's an ideal Swing 'n Tern space with more seats than what's available at the current Minstrel shows.

For discussion only: The intelligent spending of sound money, with uncertainty the only certainty in the long term at MUF, what may be our best investment in new sound equipment would be to finally go digital. This would permit the console to remain on or near the stage, and the mixing can be done from any position via a laptop or tablet -- I-pad or Kindle. A snake and long runs of speaker wires would no longer be needed and the system could be used in any space, especially at the festival. At Camp Bernie, a wireless rig would eliminate the moving of sound equipment between feedings and stage shows, also easily allowing the announcements to be made over the better quality system than the Bernie p.a. system. The main stage sound stuff would not need to be moved at all. The sound dog du jour basically carries the console anywhere on an i-pad -- monitor levels can be set while standing at each microphone. The console apps look and operate like analog boards. The I-pad can sit in a music stand while mixing from the audience. The physical console still operates like a console when a full snake can be used, but a digital console offers the flexibility for whatever the future holds. The reliability so far among digital operators is promising. While I've heard (and experienced) a lot of fear of something going wrong in a digital set up, I've yet to hear of an actual problem during a show among the current generation of digital equipment. I have seen the new tablet mixers and the sound quality and overall function is terrific.

As for ballpark pricing, the Mackie 16-channel I-pad-based system runs about $1800 on the street -- this system most closely resembles the current Minstrel board. The Behringer 32-channel system I bought in January was $2500 wholesale (about $2900 on the street). The apps to run these boards are free. I-pads not included. Behringer is about to release a 16-channel I-pad-based console with the same excellent Midas electronics in the 32-channel board that's sure to be less expensive than the Mackie.

The above was just a discussion, so the luddites need not panick as nothing needs to be done now.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Del Vecchio